''Makin' It'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

starring

David Naughton David Walsh Naughton (born February 13, 1951) is an American actor and singer. He is known for his starring roles in the horror film ''An American Werewolf in London'' (1981) and the Disney comedy '' Midnight Madness'' (1980), as well as for a lo ...

that aired for nine episodes on Fridays at 8:00PM on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

from February 1 to March 23, 1979. It also aired in the United Kingdom on ITV from March 21, 1979. In 2002, ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' ranked ''Makin' It'' at number 40 on its TV Guide's 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time list.

Synopsis

The show was set in

Passaic, New Jersey Passaic ( or ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was List of municipalities in New Jersey, the state's 16th-most-populous ...

, and was about the daily life of Billy Manucci, a young man who frequented the local disco club, Inferno, at night while working at an

ice cream parlor Ice cream parlors (American English) or ice cream parlours (British English) are parlor that sell ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and/or frozen yogurt to consumers. Ice cream is typically sold as regular ice cream (also called hard-packed or hard- ...

called Tasti-Queen during the day. Manucci was highly influenced by the disco craze and specifically by the movie ''

Saturday Night Fever ''Saturday Night Fever'' is a 1977 American Dance in film, dance Drama (film and television), drama film directed by John Badham and produced by Robert Stigwood. It stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young Italian Americans, Italian-America ...

''. Ellen Travolta, co-star of ''Saturday Night Fever'' and

John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. List of awards and nominations received by John Travolta, His accolades include a Primetime Em ...

's sister, played Manucci's mother. ''Makin' It'' had the misfortune of coming to air near the end of the disco fad as backlash against the disco culture (such as the one portrayed in the show) was rising in the United States, culminating in

Disco Demolition Night Disco Demolition Night was a Major League Baseball (MLB) promotion on Thursday, July 12, 1979, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois, that ended in a riot. At the climax of the event, a crate filled with disco records was blown up on the fiel ...

in the summer of 1979. As such, it lasted only eight weeks on air before being canceled. It ranked #104 out of 114 shows airing that season, with an 11.9 rating and a 20 share. The show was one of six whose cancellation was announced by ABC on the same day in April 1979, all listed in the same release in an issue of ''

'', the other five series being ''

Welcome Back, Kotter ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' is an American sitcom starring Gabe Kaplan as a high-school teacher in charge of a racially and ethnically diverse remedial education class nicknamed the Sweathogs. Recorded in front of a live studio audience, the ser ...

'', ''

What's Happening!! ''What's Happening!!'' is an American sitcom television series that first aired on ABC from August 5, 1976, premiering as a summer series. It also returned as a weekly series, that later aired for the rest of the three seasons, from November 1 ...

'', ''

Delta House ''Delta House'' is an American sitcom that was adapted from the 1978 film '' National Lampoon's Animal House.'' The series aired from January 18 to April 21, 1979 on ABC. Casting Cast members reprising their roles from ''Animal House'' include ...

'', ''

Starsky & Hutch ''Starsky & Hutch'' is an American action television series, which consisted of a 72-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a '' Movie of the Week'' entry) and 92 episodes of 50 minutes each. The show was created by William Blinn (inspired ...

'', and the original ''

Battlestar Galactica ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. It began with the original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel series, '' Galactica 1980'', a line of book adaptat ...

'', which was gone after a single season despite its phenomenal popularity.

Robert Stigwood Robert Colin Stigwood (16 April 1934 – 4 January 2016) was an Australian-born British-resident music entrepreneur, film producer, and impresario, best known for managing musicians such as Cream, Andy Gibb, and the Bee Gees; theatrical produc ...

, the producer of ''Saturday Night Fever'' as well as the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in ...

' manager, was involved in the show's creation, as was

Garry Marshall Garry Kent Marshall (November 13, 1934 – July 19, 2016) was an American screenwriter, director, producer and actor. Marshall began his career in the 1960s as a writer for ''The Lucy Show'' and ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' until he developed the T ...

. The

theme song Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

, sung by David Naughton, reached #5 on the Billboard Top 40 charts in 1979.Billboard Top 40 Hits of 1979
/ref> It entered the Top 40 on May 12, nearly two months after the show had been canceled. The song was also featured in the Bill Murray movie ''

Meatballs A meatball is ground meat (mince) rolled into a ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, minced onion, egg (food), eggs, butter, and seasoning. Meatballs are cooked by frying, baking, steaming, or braising in sauce. ...

'' as well as the

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

dance game ''

MC Groovz Dance Craze ''MC Groovz Dance Craze'' is a rhythm game for the GameCube developed and published by Mad Catz. The game is a ''Dance Dance Revolution'' clone and was bundled with Mad Catz' Beat Pad accessory. The game was originally announced via a press rele ...

''. The song was also featured in the movie '' Detroit Rock City'', despite the fact the movie is set in 1978 and ''Makin' It'' was released in 1979.

Cast

– Billy Manucci *

Greg Antonacci Gregory Gerald Antonacci (February 2, 1947 – September 20, 2017) was an American television actor, director, producer, and writer. He portrayed Johnny Torrio in ''Boardwalk Empire'' in every season, from 2010 to 2014, and Phil Leotardo's right ...

– Tony Manucci, Billy's older brother * Denise Miller – Tina Manucci, Billy's younger sister * Ellen Travolta – Dorothy Manucci, the mother *

Lou Antonio Louis Antonio (born January 23, 1934) is an American actor and TV director best known for performing in the films ''Cool Hand Luke'' and '' America America''. He also starred in two short-lived TV series, '' Dog and Cat'', and '' Makin' It''. E ...

– Joseph Manucci, the father * Ralph Seymour – Al "Kingfish" Sorrentino *

Rebecca Balding Rebecca Balding (September 21, 1948 – July 18, 2022) was an American actress best known for her appearances on ''Soap'' and ''Charmed''. Biography In 1948, Balding was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. She attended the University of Kansas. I ...

– Corky Crandall * Jennifer Perito – Ivy Papastegios * Gary Prendergast – Bernard Fusco * Wendy Hoffman – Suzanne

Episodes

References

External links

* * {{MillerBoyett 1979 American television series debuts 1979 American television series endings 1970s American multi-camera sitcoms American English-language television shows Passaic, New Jersey Television series by CBS Studios Television shows set in New Jersey American Broadcasting Company sitcoms